Together
by Jaymilsoner
Summary: This story is about Lara and Alex struggling to survive together on Yamatai. (Does not follow the plot of the 2013 reboot).
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

Chapter 1 - Prologue

**Lara's POV**

It was sunday evening around eight. It was raining outside and I could hear the wind blow through the trees. It had been quite stormy lately; I saw a fallen tree on the road towards the city yesterday. We were heading to the mall to buy clothes for me.

After we left the clothes store with various kinds of clothes for me and a new pair of shoes for uncle Roth we walked towards the car. I spotted a sweets store across the street in the corner of my eye.

"Pleaaase uncle Roth!" I begged.

"We have enough sweets back home, sweetheart." Roth sighed.

"But Roth, daddy always took me to sweets stores, why don't you?" I told him with my best puppy eyes on.

Roth hated it if I told him what my dad would've done in contrast to him. But it was my way of getting what I wanted and I hated myself for doing that to him. He always felt sorry for me that my dad wasn't always around. Especially after he disappeared Roth would do everything to make me feel happy and he did.

"Okay Lara, you win." He smiled putting his hands up slightly.

I cheered and ran towards the store.

"Lara! Not so fast, wait for me!" He yelled running after me.

I ran across the street and almost got hit by a car. Luckily the driver braked as quick as possible. Roth gestured sorry to the driver and came up to me.

"What did I tell you about crossing the road without me?" He said slightly angry.

I started crying like every six year old would in that situation.

"I'm sorry uncle Roth…" I sobbed.

"It's okay Lara. Just don't do it again. I don't want you to get hurt." He said worriedly.

"I won't do it again." I said rubbing my eyes.

"Promise?" Roth said.

"Promise."

"Now lets get you some sweets, sweetheart." He smiled taking my hand.

I nodded and smiled back.

After we got back home and had dinner I went to my room. School started tomorrow so Roth told me to sleep early that night. I was sitting on my desk chair with a pile of my father's books on my desk.

My room was really big, I had a queen's bed in the middle of the room placed against the wall with the end of my bed facing the doorway. The bed was white with a touch of pink here and there. I had a large desk to the right of my bed with a bookshelf in the corner of the room. My wardrobe was to the left of my bed, next to the bathroom door.

I was reading through some of my father's books that evening. I always loved reading through them. I didn't understand a word of it then, but there were tons of pictures of artifacts in them. There was a beautiful crystal on page 43 which I really liked. It was a special kind of emerald that would make you immortal. The idea of not being able to grow old didn't appeal me when I was six, so I turned the page. The next page had a picture of a special ruby hidden somewhere in Wyoming on it. This one gave you super strength. That sounded much cooler to me than what the green one had to offer. I was inspecting the picture when Roth knocked on the door.

"Hey Lara, what are you reading?" He asked walking towards me.

"One of daddy's books. It's full of things that give you awesome superpowers. There's a red one that gives you super strength!" I told him.

He smiled weakly. He sat down on my bed and told me to sit next to him. "Sweetheart, I… I have something to tell you. About your mommy and daddy." He started with a sad look on his face.

"What is it, uncle Roth?" I said trying to figure out why he was sad.

Roth went quiet for a while and then took a deep breath: "They are not coming back, Lara."

I felt my heart stop for a second and the tears building up in my eyes.

"I'm sorry sweetheart…" He said putting his arms around me.

I couldn't fight back my tears anymore and they started rolling down my cheeks. I hugged him tightly and cried on his shoulder.

"They promised me to come back before my birthday." I sobbed.

"I know sweetheart, I know…" He said softly while caressing the back of my head.

I could barely sleep that night. I had to cry myself to sleep for the rest of the week. Roth was there for me, since I was born he already took care of me when my parents were on an expedition. After my parents disappeared he was the closest thing to a father I had.

"You will be alright girl. I'm here for you." He whispered.

This was fifteen years ago.

~ Summer 2013 ~

This morning I woke up five minutes before my alarm went off. Always great, because I hated the sound of alarms since I was born. Today we are leaving Los Angeles and we'll be sailing to the Dragon's Triangle at the end of the week. We've been preparing the whole week for the expedition to find Yamatai, an island presumed to be located inside the Dragon's Triangle. The island was the domain of the shaman queen Himiko, the first sun queen of Yamatai.

Roth's ship, The Endurance, was docked alongside the west coast of California in San Francisco. We were staying at a four star hotel in Los Angeles.

I got out of my incredibly comfortable hotel bed and went to the bathroom. I brushed my teeth, put my hair in a ponytail after combing it and applied a little make-up. When I got out of the bathroom, Sam rushed in.

"Calm down Sam! Check out is eleven o'clock." I reassured.

"I know, but I don't want to miss breakfast again. I'm dying to try the bacon here." She said.

"Why didn't you try it the first day?" I asked.

"Because Americans love bacon. Americans plus bacon equals no bacon left for Sam." She said dryly.

I chuckled and chose my outfit for today. I picked a grey tank-top with jeans shorts and put it on. I turned on the tv to kill some time. When Sam got out of the bathroom she put on a black t-shirt with white text spelling 'I 3 LA' and jeans shorts.

"Okay, I'm done, lets have breakfast!" She exclaimed.

I turned off the tv, took my essentials from the table and left the hotel room. We went downstairs to the buffet. Sam took two plates from the stack, one for me and one for herself. When we filled our plates we took place somewhere near the window. Sam had a ridiculous amount of bacon on her plate, together with two eggs. I only took two slices of bread, two strips of bacon and one egg. Sam stuffed some bacon in her mouth and started chewing.

"And how's the bacon?" I asked.

"Fucking amazing! This is exactly how bacon is supposed to be." She said with a mouthful.

I chuckled and ate my bacon and egg sandwich. Sam wasn't wrong, the bacon was pretty good. When we finished eating we went to the lobby and checked out of the hotel. We also asked the receptionist to call a cab for us. We left the hotel and waited in front of it.

"Man, I'm gonna miss LA." Sam sighed.

"Yeah me too. I wish we could stay longer, the weather is perfect here." I said.

"You said it. By the way, where is Roth's ship docked at?" Sam asked.

"Along the west coast in San Francisco." I answered.

"Never been to San Francisco, hope it's nice." She said.

The cab arrived. The cab driver took our luggage and put it in the back. He had short brown hair and sunglasses on. He wore a blue short sleeved Hollister t-shirt and beige shorts. I got in first and Sam followed.

"Good morning ladies. Where to?" The driver asked us looking at me and took his sunglasses off. His eyes were grey blue.

"Los Angeles International Airport." I answered.

"Okay." He said and started driving.

"So… Did you enjoy your stay in LA?" He asked after a minute of silence.

"YES! It was freaking awesome!" Sam exclaimed.

He chuckled and asked: "What about the gorgeous British lady next to you. How did you like it here?"

"I- I.. Err.. It was nice." I stuttered, taken aback by the compliment. I could see Sam grinning in the corner of my eyes.

"Tell me about it." He said.

"Err… Why don't you tell him about it, Sam?" I said to her, uncertain what to tell him.

"Why me? He asked you, right?" She grinned.

"Exactly. C'mon, don't be shy! I don't bite." He chuckled.

I sighed, thought for a second and said: "The weather here is great compared to England."

"I heard it rains 24/7 over there." He commented.

"It does." Sam confirmed.

"So, where you from?" He asked.

"Me?"

"Yes, beautiful." He smiled.

"I'm from London." I answered, blushing slightly.

"Ah London.. Always wanted to go there." He said.

"If you play your cards right, Lara might take you there." Sam smirked.

"Sam!" I almost yelled. "You are embarrassing me." I added quietly with a blush.

"Lara? Beautiful name you got there." He commented.

"Thank you." I smiled.

He looked into the rear-view mirror and smiled back at me.

"Well, we're here. Los Angeles International Airport." He said.

"Thank you, how much do we owe you?" I asked taking my wallet out of my backpack.

"Nothing. It was a pleasure driving you girls, fly safely!" He smiled.

I smiled back and handed him $30.

"It's fine, really." He refused and gave back my money. "I don't come across talkative people like you two every day and I want to thank you for that."

I smiled, got out of the cab and walked towards the entrance with Sam, who already took our luggage out of the cab.

"He was SO into you, Lara!" Sam exclaimed handing me my luggage.

"He was not, he was just being nice." I disagreed.

"Didn't you notice he was focused on you the whole time? If he was 'just being nice' he would've talked to me too." Sam chuckled.

"Whatever, Sam." I said.

We went inside the airport. The place was huge with countless people walking around.

"Where do we go?" Sam asked.

"Terminal 4." I said.

"Have you bought souvenirs yet?" Sam asked me.

"No not yet, should we look around for a gift shop later?" I asked her.

She nodded and lead the way to check-in. We then got to terminal 4. There were tons of shops here ranging from Victoria's Secret to Starbucks. We decided to go to a nearby gift shop and look around.

_What should I get? There's so much to choose from. Coffee mugs, fridge magnets, t-shirts, necklaces, rings, everything._

"Lara, look at this!" Sam pointed towards a mini hollywood sign.

"Cool, do you want it?" I asked her.

"Of course I want it! It's only $7,50" She answered.

"That's quite expensive for something like that." I said.

"I don't care, I'm getting it." She said taking it to the cashier.

I looked around some more and decided to buy a coffee mug with 'I 3 LA' on it. I took it and walked over to Sam.

"That will be $7,50 please." The cashier said.

"Here you go." Sam said handing him a ten dollar bill.

"Thank you." He smiled putting the bill in the register and returning the change. Sam took the change and said goodbye.

"Hi." I said placing the coffee mug on the counter.

He scanned the barcode and said: "That will be $9,99"

"Here you are." I said giving him the money.

"Thank you very much, have a nice day and fly safely." He smiled.

"Thank you." I smiled back, put the mug in my backpack and followed Sam out of the shop.

"I'm dying to get some coffee…" Sam said.

"Should we go to Starbucks?" I asked her.

"Hell yeah." She answered.

The queue was pretty long, but we had too much time anyway.

"Grande caramel frappuccino for… Sam?" The guy behind the counter said.

Sam walked over to him and took her coffee.

"A grande caramel frappuccino for… Laura? The same guy said.

"It's Lara, without the u." I smiled.

"Gotcha." The guy took a marker, removed the u and handed me my drink.

"Here you go, Lara." He winked.

"Thank you." I grinned.

We headed to the departure hall with our drinks and took place somewhere. We waited there for 30 minutes when the intercom said:

"Good afternoon passengers. This is the pre-boarding announcement for flight 67A to San Francisco. We are now inviting those passengers with small children, and any passengers requiring special assistance, to begin boarding at this time. Please have your boarding pass and identification ready. Regular boarding will begin in approximately ten minutes time. Thank you."

The plane was normal sized. There were two columns. Both columns had 25 rows with three seats each. My seat was 15A and Sam's was next to me, 15B. We put our hand luggage above us and sat back down. I had the window seat which I always prefered, because you could lean against the wall if you wanted to sleep and because you could look out the window and admire the view.

We arrived at San Francisco International Airport. The flight was short, only an hour or so. Sam was excited, while I was kinda tired. Caffeine never had much of an effect on me. Sam however, is a different case.

"Finally I get to see The Endurance! On the pictures it looks huge." Sam said heading towards arrival.

"Yeah it's pretty big, especially if you're on it." I told her while walking behind her.

We got our luggage and left the airport. We took the shuttle bus to the port of San Francisco. We could eventually see The Endurance from a distance, docked in the harbour.

"You weren't kidding, it's huge!" Sam exclaimed.

We arrived at the harbour and went aboard The Endurance.

"Hey Lara!" Alex waved.

"Hi Alex!" I waved back.

"HEY ALEX!" Sam yelled running towards him and giving him a tight hug.

"Good to see you too Sam." Alex chuckled trying to release himself from her grip.

"How was LA?" He asked the two of us.

"It was nice." I said simply.

"It wasn't just nice, Lara, it was awe-some!" Sam exclaimed.

"Well duh, we're in America, where everything is awesome." Alex chuckled.

I smiled, rolled my eyes and asked: "So when are we leaving?"

"I dunno, you should ask Roth." Alex responded.

I nodded and went looking for Roth. I spotted him moving cargo around and went up to him.

"Hey Roth!" I said.

"Mornin' Lara, how was your stay in Los Angeles?" He asked.

"It was great! The rooms were nice and the food was pretty good." I told him.

"Good t'hear. We're leaving tomorrow, so if you need something, I would recommend getting it today." He said.

"Okay, I'll ask Sam if she wants anything."

"Good, see you later Lara."

"Bye Roth." I said and went back to Alex and Sam.

"Lara! Can you help me with moving these crates? Grim told me to move them to the storage room. " Alex yelled.

"Sure!" I yelled back, walking over to him.

"Where's Sam?" I asked.

"Over here!" She yelled. She was talking with Jonah.

"Hey little bird!" He yelled.

"Hey Jonah!" I yelled back.

"Okay, if you move that crate, I'll do this one." Alex said.

"What's in these crates?" I asked him.

"I don't know, it's just cargo." He said.

I nodded and helped him carry the boxes to the storage room. The boxes were quite heavy and sometimes required us to carry them together. We went back to pick up the last box.

"You can go now, I will handle the last one." He said, crouching down and lifting the box up.

"Okay, I'll see you at the dinner table, should I make you some lunch?" I said.

"Yeah, sounds good! I'll be right there." He said, carrying the box to the storage room.

I saw him stumbling around with the box, this one looked heavier than the other ones.

"You need help with that?" I chuckled.

"Nah, it's fine, It's fine." He said under his breath.

I entered the kitchen and walked over to the fridge, I opened it up and took butter, bacon and eggs out. I took a pan out of the cupboard and turned on the fire. I placed the pan onto the fire, threw some butter in it and cracked the eggs into the pan. I then put a few strips of bacon in it. When they were cooked I threw them on a plate and brought them to the dinner table. I then went back and did the same again. When I placed the second plate on the table Alex walked in.

"Smells good!" He said.

"Take a seat." I said to him, turning on the tap to wash my hands.

We sat down and started eating our lunch.

"You are a great cook, Lara!" He told me taking a bite of his bacon.

"It's just bacon and egg, everyone can make that." I said.

"Well, you make good bacon and egg, that's what counts." He smiled and took another bite of his bacon. When we finished we placed our plates on the counter and left the kitchen. I went to my room and saw Sam sitting on her bed fumbling with her camera.

"Hey Sam, what are you doing?" I asked.

"Hey sweetie! I'm just setting up my camera, I'm gonna film this whole expedition and make you famous!" She grinned.

"Yeah, we'll see about that." I chuckled in disbelieve.

"Trust me, it will happen." She smiled.

I smiled back and walked over to my desk.

_There's still so much to learn about Yamatai. Even after spending days studying the history of Himiko and Yamatai itself, I still don't know enough._

In the evening we all gathered in the kitchen. Jonah was cooking dinner for us.

"Okay! Dinner is ready, are you guys hungry?" The big guy said.

"Starving." Alex said.

"That's too bad, because you are getting nothing." Jonah joked.

We all laughed and started eating the grilled curry chicken with yellow rice.

"This is delicious Jonah!" Sam said.

"Just like my mother used to make it." Jonah smiled.

"Then your mother was a terrible cook." Alex joked.

"Alex!" I said indignantly.

"Just kidding, settle down." Alex grinned.

Jonah laughed and said: "Well Alex, then you're cooking tomorrow."

"I rather starve than eat his shite." Grim said.

We all laughed and continued eating.

"So Roth, when exactly are we leaving?" I asked him.

"Tomorrow morning, around six." He answered.

I nodded and continued eating. When we all were stuffed full of Jonah's magical cooking, I stood up from the table and walked towards the door.

"I'm gonna go to bed now, good night everybody." I said to the others.

"Good night Lara." They all said.

I entered my room and took some pj's out of my wardrobe. I then went inside the bathroom, undressed myself and stepped into the shower. When I got out 20 minutes later I dried myself with a fresh towel and put on my pj's. I brushed my teeth, combed my hair and got into my bed. I set my phone alarm for 5 am and went to sleep.

~ End of chapter ~


	2. Chapter 2 - The Beach

Chapter 2 - The Beach

**Lara's POV**

I heard two people walking in the hallway, one of which was Roth. I could recognize his footsteps from miles away, just like I can recognize Sam's. Roth's footsteps were always relatively loud, even when he's trying to walk quietly. Sam's were short and gentle.

"Hush! Yer gonna wake Lara." I heard Roth whisper.

"Okay." I heard a woman say quietly.

A door opened and closed again. I took my phone from the bedside table and turned on the screen to check the time.

_4:53 am_

I got out of my bed and went to check on Roth. I opened the door slowly and saw Roth with his arms wrapped around a black woman's waist.

"Lara!" He said slightly startled.

"Morning Roth." I chuckled awkwardly.

Roth released the woman and said: "Lara, this is Reyes. Reyes, this is Lara."

Hey Lara, I've heard a lot about you." Reyes said walking towards me to shake my hand.

I nodded and shook her hand.

"Lara, could you wake Sam and Alex? Jonah's making breakfast." Roth asked me.

"Sure." I said and left the room.

_Okay that was awkward... I never saw Roth with women, I thought he wasn't really dating anymore.. Oh well._

I opened Alex's door and walked inside. He was still sleeping. I walked over to him and shook his shoulder lightly.

**Alex's POV**

"Who what?" I woke up mumbling.

I looked around me and saw Lara standing there looking at me. She was wearing an oversized white short sleeve t-shirt and grey gym shorts with a pink outline.

_Jesus… She looks beautiful as ever. She has this gorgeous morning look with slightly shaggy 'ponytail-less' hair and sleepy eyes. Even without make-up she's stunning._

"Good morning Alex." She smiled widening her eyes slightly.

"Morning Lara." I smiled back gazing into her brown eyes, glistening by the rising sun, shining through the tiny circular window.

"What time is it?" I asked her snapping out of my day dream.

"Almost five. Jonah's making breakfast, so if you're ready you can head to the kitchen." She told me.

I nodded and got out of bed. I rubbed my eyes and took my glasses from the bedside table. I put them on and took some clothes out of my wardrobe. I put on a grey short sleeve t-shirt and a pair of shorts. I left my room and walked towards the kitchen. When I passed Lara's room I took a peek inside and saw Lara taking of her shirt with her back facing me. I couldn't help but stare for a second with my jaws dropped to the floor.

_The way her hair moves when she pulled her shirt over her head. The shape of her body. Everything is so perfect... Okay Alex, that's enough. Just keep on walking you pervert._

I opened the door to the kitchen and saw a blonde man talking with Roth. I didn't bother introducing myself and took place. Lara walked in a minute later. She had changed her clothes and was wearing a white loose shirt and denim jeans.

"Dr. James Whitman?" Lara said surprised.

"Yes that is me." He responded.

"You know this guy?" I asked Lara.

"I'm a huge fan of your show!" Lara told him, completely ignoring my question.

"Too bad it was discontinued." Lara added with a sad tone.

"Yes, that was not what I hoped for, but everything eventually comes to an end." Whitman responded.

"Oh by the way, I'm Lara, Lara Croft." She said holding out her hand.

"Lara Croft? As in Richard Croft's daughter?" He said surprised shaking her hand.

"Yours truly." Lara smiled and released his hand.

"It's an honor meeting you, miss Croft." He said.

"Please, just Lara." She responded with a smile.

"Lara it is." He said smiling back.

"So Conrad Roth, when are we leaving San Francisco?" Whitman asked.

"Well, since we're all here, we could leave any minute now." Roth answered.

"No time like the present." I said.

"Yeah, now's a good time." Lara added.

Roth nodded and headed to the control room. Lara and Whitman sat down and talked some more about things that didn't interest me a single bit.

_I can't stand Whitman. He thinks so highly of himself, it makes me want to puke. And the worst part is that Lara's drooling all over his 'amazing' stories and adventures. Why can't I have a good conversation with her once..._

I stood there staring in front of me when I decided to go for one last walk before we leave.

"Alex, where are you going?" Lara asked me.

"Outside." I answered. "You- you want to come with?" I stammered nervously.

"Err… Yeah, why not." She stood up and followed me out of the room.

We we're walking through the hallway towards the exit when she asked: "So.. Where we going?"

"Nowhere in particular. I just want to see the place for one last time before we leave." I answered.

She nodded as she took her scrunchie from her wrist and put her hair in a ponytail. I followed Lara outside and walked along the coast with her. She was gazing at the beautiful view. The sunrise was beautiful, but my eyes caught sight of something far more beautiful than that. She looked gorgeous with the sun lighting up her skin.

We descended the stairs to the beach and went towards the sea. Lara slowly walked step by step into the water. I stood there and watched her make her way into the water. She stopped when she was knee-deep.

"Alex, come over here!" She said.

"Isn't it cold?" I asked her.

"A little." She answered splashing around.

"I'll pass!" I yelled as she made her way further into the water.

"Come on Alex!" She said disappointed.

"I can't stand the cold!" I protested.

She sighed and walked over to me.

She took my hand and lead me to the water. My heart was beating like crazy when I felt her hand holding mine. Her hand felt soft and smooth. She almost dragged me into the water and before I realised it we were waist deep in the water. She was laughing and I couldn't help but smile at her.

"See? It's not that bad." She smiled tilting her head sideways.

"What are you talking about? It's cold as fuck." I chuckled.

She then used her hands to splash water over me.

"Son of a..." I yelled clenching my teeth.

I could barely see through my soaked glasses. Lara laughed and backed away, knowing that I would strike back.

I chased after her and tried to splash her. She made her way through the water as fast as possible.

"No please, sorry! I won't do it again, promise!" She laughed covering her face when I caught up to her.

I grinned and splashed water onto her, soaking her body completely. She squeaked and stood still for a while.

She looked amazing. Her hair was soaked which looked surprisingly good and her skin was glistening in the sunlight. I gazed at her for a second and then burst into laughter.

"You should've seen your face!" I chuckled.

"You should've seen yours." She grinned shaking her hair.

Shit, was I staring that obvious? Or did she mean the moment I got soaked? Damn it, I wish I could read her mind.

"Lets call it even?" She said holding her dripping hand out.

"We're square." I responded and shook her hand.

We made our way back to shore and headed back to the Endurance.

"About time you two came back." Roth said when we walked into the kitchen.

"And why are you both completely soaked with water?" He questioned us.

"Well… Lara wanted to go to the beach and… Yeah." I told him.

He shook his head and told us to change our clothes. We both went to our rooms and changed.

**Lara's POV**

"So Alex huh?" Sam smiled when I entered our bedroom.

"What?" I said slightly confused.

"Oh come on. You know what I'm talking about, sweetie." She rolled her eyes.

"I don't." I responded, still confused.

"You like him, don't you?" She grinned.

"What, no!" I almost yelled.

"You went to the beach with him. Alone. And you come back all wet. Did you two…" She smirked.

"Whatever you're thinking, I don't want to know it." I said seriously.

"You totally had sex with him on the beach!" She exclaimed.

"Oh my god… Sam, of course not! We're just friends. Nothing more, nothing less." I almost yelled.

"Calm down. I was just kidding." She chuckled.

I rolled my eyes, took some fresh clothes and a towel out of my closet.

_I hate these kind of conversations with Sam. For some reason I always get heated when I talk about boys with Sam. It makes me feel incredibly uncomfortable._

I came back to the kitchen and took place by the table.

"Got everything you need, Lara?" Roth asked me.

"Yep." I answered drying my hair with a towel.

"Okay. We'll be leaving in a few minutes." He said and left the room.

I took my earphones out of my pocket, put them in and shuffled my music library.

_"It's been a long day without you my friend_

_And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again_

_We've come a long way from where we began_

_Oh I'll tell you all about it when I see you again_

_When I see you again"_

I woke up in the middle of the night. It was storming outside. I looked out of the tiny window. I couldn't see a thing until a lightning bolt struck in the distance lighting everything up for a second. I saw huge waves emerging from a distance.

"Shit…" I hissed.

Then suddenly the whole ship started shaking heavily. I got thrown out of my bed onto the wall.

"What the fuck? Lara, what's happening?" Sam yelled.

"There's a storm, we need to get out of here!" I yelled back and made my way to the door. I opened the door and held it open for Sam to get out. She was making her way outside when I saw a huge wave of water approaching us at the end of the hallway.

"Shit, we need to go!" I shouted and lead the way out of the hallway, but I was too late. The water caught up to us and I went under. I couldn't see what was happening. Everything was spinning when I saw a ladder. I reached out to grab it. I managed to grasp onto it and at the same time caught Sam's hand with my other hand. We climbed the ladder up to the hatch. It pushed as hard as I could, but it wouldn't butch.

"Fuck! Lara, what do we do? The water is rising quickly." Sam panicked.

"Lets push together." I suggested.

She nodded and we both counted to three.

"Push!" We yelled.

The water went from knee height to shoulder height in a matter of seconds. We were going to drown if no one helped us out. I pounded the hatch with my fist, trying to break the glass, but it was too thick.

The water reached our cheeks. We could barely keep our heads above water.

"I don't wanna die Lara!" Sam cried.

"We're not going to die, we're gonna be alright." I comforted. "We'll make it." I reassured her.

I started pounding the hatch with my fist again, but it was useless. The water was getting too high and I went under. Sam managed to pull me back up. I gasped for breath and desperately smashed the hatch with all my strength. Sam did so too. Even together it wouldn't break, it was a hopeless situation. We were going to die here.

The water reached above our heads rendering us unable to catch a breath. I started losing oxygen and my vision began to fade. I couldn't hold my breath anymore and I began to drown. Everything went black.

~ End of chapter ~


	3. Chapter 3 - Stranded

Chapter 3 - Stranded

**Alex's POV**

I unlocked the hatch and opened it up. I managed to grab Sam's hand and pull her out.

"Sam! Wake up!" I said hastily shaking her shoulder.

She started coughing up water and spat out what was left of it.

"Sam! Where's Lara?" I said worried.

"She- she's still down the- there somewhere." She coughed.

"Fuck." I muttered and climbed down the hatch.

I fell into the water and went down under. It was ice-cold. I had to go back up for a second to catch my breath.

_Okay Alex, there's no time to wait. Just do it, do it for Lara._

I went under again and swam downwards. Luckily she hadn't drifted off far, she was at the bottom of the ladder. I picked her up by her waist with my left arm and swam back up. Sam helped me carry Lara out of the hatch and I followed.

"Lara, Lara! Please wake up, come on!" I exclaimed while giving her CPR.

"Come on Lara, don't leave us. Please…" I said shakily while applying more pressure with each push.

"Lara, I know you can hear me. Please get up!" Sam sobbed while I gave Lara mouth to mouth.

We were running out of time, the ship was starting to sink. She needed to wake up now or we had to leave her behind.

"Lara, no… Please... Oh god… Please wake up Lara." I sobbed.

I gave her mouth to mouth one last time out of desperation.

**Lara's POV**

I started to cough heavily. There was water coming out of my mouth. Did I almost drown? Alex put my arm around him and helped me up.

"Thank god you're alive." He smiled weakly, supporting me.

I smiled back weakly and leaned on him. I was so tired, I could barely feel my legs. The rain was intense, making it even harder to walk.

"Come on Lara, we've to hurry, the ship is sinking. We're almost there." He said.

"Where are we going?" I asked him under my breath.

"The lifeboat, if we're lucky the others haven't left yet." He answered.

We walked towards the edge of the ship and looked down.

"It's too damn high and I don't see a lifeboat." Alex told us.

"Me neither, let's move on." Sam responded.

"Alex, I think I can walk on my own now." I told him.

"You sure? You were out for quite some time." He said worried.

"It's fine, I can walk." I reassured him.

He nodded and let me go.

"Lara, Sam, Alex! Over here!" I heard Roth shout.

We ran towards him as fast as we could and followed him to the lifeboat.

"Bloody bastard! He left us!" Roth yelled angry.

"Who left us? Who took the boat?" I asked him.

"Dr. Whitman…" He muttered gruffly.

We continued looking for opportunities of getting off the ship. We eventually reached what seemed like the edge of the ship, but it wasn't. The ship had broken into two parts, one higher part and one lower part. We were standing on the higher part.

"We'll have to jump to the other side." Roth told us with a serious tone.

"Are you insane?!" Alex exclaimed.

"We have to." I said. "There's no other way." I added.

"This is nuts." Alex muttered.

Roth walked a few steps back and built up momentum. He then jumped as far as he could and fell into a break-fall roll.

"He fucking made it!" Sam exclaimed out of disbelieve.

The ship was shaking more heavily every second and the distance to the other side was increasing. We had to move fast.

"Sam, go!" I told her.

"NO! Are you crazy? I'll never make it!" She yelled.

"We'll jump together, okay?" I tried to convince her.

"Roth will catch you, you can do it." I added.

We followed Roth's instructions and moved a few steps back to be able to build momentum. We ran and then jumped as far as possible.

Everything slowed down. Roth reached out his hand to catch us. But who was he gonna catch? I managed to land on it with my upper body, but the surface was slippery and at an angle.

Roth caught Sam's hand and tried to pull her up. He looked at me not knowing what to do. I started to slip off. I was still hanging on to it with my hands, but my fingers slowly slid off.

**Alex's POV**

_Shit, she's gonna fall off. Come on Roth, hurry!_

Roth pulled Sam up to the platform, but he was too late to save Lara. She fell down into the sea.

"Lara! No!" I yelled.

I took a deep breath and jumped after her without hesitation. I held my breath and closed my eyes. I fell into the rough waves as cleanly as possible, so I could focus on getting to Lara. The drop was quite high and the impact confirmed it.

I thought the sea I went to with Lara was cold. This was twenty times worse. The water was freezing and I felt a cold vibe go through my spine the moment I went under. I swam up to catch my breath, but the waves violently pulled me back under. I tried to look for Lara, but I couldn't see her.

I stranded ashore and started coughing. I took quite some water in and it was dying to get out the moment I could feel the sand with my trembling hands.

_Fuck, where's Lara?_

I looked around me, no sign of her.

"Lara!" I yelled a few times.

The third time I heard her yell back. She sounded in pain.

"Alex! Over here!" She panted.

I faced the direction of her voice and saw her sitting on her side near the water.

"You okay?" I asked her worriedly while jogging towards her. She was crying and trying to pull something out of her waist.

"Alex... It won't get out and it hurts like crazy." She sobbed.

"Let me look at it." I told her while checking out the injury.

"Alex.. I'm going to need you to pull it out." She said shakily. Like she didn't trust me and I was plan B. I didn't think she meant it that way though.

_Why would she not trust me? I saved her life once. Hell, I would do it again if I need to._

_What are you thinking Alex? You saved her because you wanted to, not because you 'needed' to. Get rid of that ego of yours and help her out._

I looked into her eyes and nodded. She got up to her knees.

"You ready?" I asked her.

She nodded and I swallowed. I put my hand on the piece of rebar and took a deep breath. She did too and we started pulling. It wasn't as easy as I thought and the sound of her crying in pain didn't make it any easier. When we managed to pull it out she let out a scream and fell back onto her right side. She started to feel weak. The wound was bleeding badly, she needed medical attention fast.

"You're gonna be alright. Just hold pressure on the wound." I told her.

I took a piece of gauze and a roll of bandage out of her bag. I placed the gauze on her wound and wrapped the bandage around her waist covering the wound.

When Lara calmed down and was ready to move we moved into the island. The rain was getting heavier, we had to find a shelter to stay the night. We walked through the forest. It was a drag walking through it. It was chuck full of dense bushes and grass, also the ground was muddy and the rain only made it worse.

"Over there! That looks like a good shelter." I pointed towards what looked like a creek in the mountain.

We walked towards it and sat down.

"At least it shields off the rain." I pointed out.

Lara didn't respond and walked towards the stream of water dripping down from the shelter. She folded her hands into a cup and caught some water. She drank from it, giving her the chills.

She came back and sat down.

"We need a fire." She said, rubbing her arms.

I nodded and went looking for twigs. I came back with a few sturdy twigs and stones. Lara took a matchbox out of her handbag and opened it up.

"Shit, last one." She hissed.

I placed the twigs and rocks down forming the base of a campfire. She took the match out and struck it on. She lit up the twigs and blew lightly.

"That should do it." Lara said while warming her hands to the fire.

_This place is horrible... I expected an awesome adventure through the beautiful landscapes, but instead we got stranded and separated. At least I still got Lara with me, she makes this expedition ten times less horrible. _

_Poor Lara, that wound of hers looked pretty bad. I hope she's okay..._

After a moment of silence Lara started: "Alex."

"What's wrong?" I asked, snapping out of my thoughts.

"I haven't really thanked you for saving me back there. So... Thank you." She smiled.

"It was nothing, you would've done the same for me, right?" I grinned scratching the back of my

neck.

"Of course." She nodded.

I sighed. "This island sucks, doesn't it?." I remarked.

"Yeah." She responded.

"What islands have you been to before?" I asked her.

"None actually, but I would love to visit Bora Bora."

"Yeah me too, that place looks amazing. You know what, when we get off this island I'll take you there." I smiled.

"I'll hold you on that." She smiled back warmly.

"I think we should rest until the rain clears up." Lara said, lying down on her side.

I agreed and laid down too.

"Good night Lara." I said with my eyes closed.

"Good night Alex." She responded.

**Lara's POV**

The next morning my stomach woke me up. I was so hungry. I woke up Alex and told him we needed to catch some food.

"And how are we supposed to do that? Tackle a deer and smash his head with a rock?" Alex joked.

I let out a giggle and said: "We'll find something out."

We took our stuff, which wasn't much, but I still considered it stuff and walked down the path.

The path lead to another forest. _Yaay. _This one was a little nicer. It wasn't raining which was a big plus and the sun was shining. There was a thin river flowing down the hill which produced a relaxing noise.

"Oh god.. A body hanging from a tree. How did he get there?" Alex said.

"Eww gross... He's carrying a bow with him, we could use that." I pointed out.

"I'll get it." Alex said and climbed the tree.

I was surprised how quick he was able to climb up there. He struggled a bit at the beginning, but managed.

"Got it!" He yelled. "Oh shi-"

The tree branch he was holding on to broke off, causing him and the body to fall down onto the ground.

"Oh god Alex! Are you alright?" I asked him crouching beside him.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." He panted and stood up from the ground.

He brushed off the dirt of his shoulders and leaned against the tree.

"Is it usable?" He asked pointing towards the bow on the corpse.

I took the bow and the quiver from the body as fast as possible, trying not to touch the corpse and backed away from it.

"Gross..." I muttered.

I threw the quiver around my shoulder and pulled the string of the bow back to test it.

"It should do the job." I said, lowering the bow and pointing at a deer I spotted in the distance earlier.

I walked past Alex and slowly moved towards the deer.

"Can you-" Alex said.

"Shhh." I cut him off and placed my index finger on my lips.

"Can you make that shot from here?" He whispered.

I nodded, placed the arrow in position and aimed the bow at the deer. I pulled back the string, inhaled sharply and held my breath to steady my aim. I waited for the short pause between my heartbeat and released the string.

The arrow whizzed through the air and got stuck in the deer's head. The poor animal dropped to the ground.

"Bull's- deer's eye!" Alex yelled happily.

I giggled at Alex's reaction and holstered the bow by carrying it like a sling bag.

We stood by the deer for a second, not knowing what to do.

"Errr... I never- umm.. do you want to do it?" Alex asked me, raising his eyebrows.

"I don't know if.." I sighed. "Sure."

I took an arrow from the quiver and sat down on my knees.

I sat there looking at the deer unsure if I could handle it. I then took a deep breath and jammed the head of the arrow inside the the deer. I sliced it open and blood spat out of the animal onto me. I felt like I had to puke and backed away from the deer.

"I'm sorry, I can't do it..." I told Alex, covering my mouth, looking away from the deer.

"It's okay, you did a great job, I'll finish it. Just head back to the camp, I'll come to you when I got it." He told me and took my covered in blood arrow. I started walking back when he called my name.

"Yeah?" I said, facing him.

"Nice shot by the way." He smiled.

I smiled back, turned around and continued walking.

I was sitting by the campfire when he came back ten minutes later with a chunk of meat.

"How did it go?" I asked him.

"Pretty good. I puked in the bushes afterwards, which wasn't exactly nice." He chuckled.

"You got it, that's what counts." I laughed.

He smiled and jammed the arrow into the chunk of meat. He held it above the fire, cooking it. He handed it to me when it was ready to eat and I took a bite.

"So... How does it taste?" He asked.

"Better than nothing." I said and passed it to him.

He smiled and took a bite too.

"Next time we'll fish." He pointed out dryly.

I laughed and we continued eating.

**Alex's POV**

Lara removed the bandage and checked her wound on her side, letting out short groans each time she touched it.

"How's your wound?" I asked her trying to break the silence.

She looked up and didn't respond. Instead she looked behind me and squint her eyes a little. There was a man walking up to us. Was he from the Endurance? He reached behind his back and unsheathed a machete.

"Wow wow, easy." I told him turning around and holding my hands in front of me.

"Give me the girl." He demanded.

"I'm sorry but I can't do that."

"Do you want me to take her from you after I cut off your limbs?" He threatened.

"Come on man. No need for violence here. We stranded on this island a day ago. We're sorry if we disturbed you." I told him.

"I ain't got time for this." He said impatiently and swung his machete at me.

Out of my reflex I quickly scrambled away, dodging it in time and got back on my feet. He grabbed Lara and pulled her onto her feet violently, stretching her wound. She moaned in pain and inhaled sharply when he placed the knife by her throat.

"Alex, the bow!" She yelled.

I took the bow and an arrow from the ground and aimed it at him.

"Either you let me have her alive and well or you can have her back after I cut off her head. Your choice." He said seriously.

"You don't need to do this." I told him.

"Drop the bow." He demanded.

"Alex, I'm scared." Lara sobbed.

"You're gonna be fine. Just go with him." I told her and dropped the bow on the ground

"No Alex, please don't leave me!" She cried.

"I'm sorry Lara..." I apologized with a shaky voice.

"Good choice." The man said, taking her with him and disappeared into the forest.

_I'm so sorry Lara... I'll get you back, I promise._

_~ End of chapter ~_


	4. Chapter 4 - Machete

Chapter 4 - Machete

**Lara's POV**

_I'm so scared. I can't believe Alex let him take me._

_Don't be stupid Lara. He had no choice. He will come back for you and you know that._

"Where are you taking me?" I asked frightened.

The man laughed devilish and headed to a nearby shack. He opened the door, took me inside, stabbed his knife into the table and pinned me against the wall. He started sniffing my hair and moved his hand up and down my body. I struggled against it but he was too strong. He moved his dirty hands through my hair and looked me into my eyes with lust. I swallowed and tried to escape from his grip. It was no use, he just pulled me back.

"You're a little too stubborn for my liking. Maybe I should punish you." He chuckled evilish.

He dragged me to a table violently and bent me down onto the table.

I knew what was going to happen. My heart raced and sweat was rolling down my forehead. I was so afraid.

He grabbed me by my waist and touched my butt. He then tried to pull down my cargo pants.

"Please don't do this." I begged.

"Unzip your pants." He demanded.

"No, please let me go, I don't want this." I pleaded.

"Oh trust me, you'll love what I've got for you." He chuckled.

"Now unzip your pants." He demanded again, this time with a gruff tone.

"Why are you doing this?" I sobbed.

"Do you know how long I've been on this fucking island? I haven't seen a hot young lady like you in years. Hell, I've never seen a girl as hot as you before. I need this. I need you. I want you." He told me and squeezed my ass.

"Now unzip your goddamn pants." He added.

I slowly unbuttoned my pants and pulled down the zipper.

"Please let me go." I tried again.

He then violently turned me around and slapped me across the face. I fell to the ground and tried to scramble away.

"Don't waste my fucking time, bitch." He said angry and dragged me across the floor towards the wall.

He pulled me up and slammed me against the wall, pinning me to it with his body.

"I'm gonna fuck you up so bad, you'd wish you listened to me the first time." He threatened trying to pull off my tank top.

I resisted and pushed him off me. I tried to run, but he caught me and tackled me to the ground. He sat on top of me, rendering me unable to move. He pulled my top off and ripped off the gauze covering my wound. He then forced his thumb inside it, causing it to open up and bleed again. I cried out and tears started rolling down my cheeks, the pain was sharp and horrifying.

**Alex's POV**

I heard a scream coming from a nearby shack. It must've been Lara so I ran towards it. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I then forcefully kicked the door off its hinges and stormed inside. It was Lara.

The man who took Lara looked up at me in shock. I spotted his machete on the table and ran towards it. He stood up and held Lara hostage. I pulled the machete out of the table and walked towards him.

"I swear I'll kill her!" The guy threatened.

"With what? This?" I said swinging the machete around.

The urge to swallow was killing me, but I had to hide my fear and stay intimidating or else he may do something stupid. I walked closer to him step by step.

"Hey, back up!" He yelled moving backwards, tightening his arm around Lara's neck.

I got close enough and looked Lara in her eyes. She knew what she needed to do to give me an opportunity to strike and nodded.

"Lara now!" I yelled and ran towards them.

Lara elbowed the man in his stomach allowing her to scrambled out of the way.

I stabbed the machete through his chest pinning him to the wall. He cried out in pain and tried to pull it out. He started struggling to get it out of him.

"Oh my god…" I heard Lara gasp.

"Argh! Please pull it out of me! Don't let me die like this, please! I- I can't… breath..." He begged.

My stomach turned. I couldn't believe what I had done. It was horrifying to look at, but I just froze and couldn't look away. I was watching a man die by my own hands.

"Please… kill me…" He pleaded almost inaudible.

"You brought this on yourself." I told him.

When his squirming stopped I exhaled sharply. I didn't realise I was holding my breath the entire time.

I suddenly felt an empty feeling in my chest. Like something was eating me from the inside. Was this how it felt like to kill someone for the first time? The guilt, the pain, that traumatizing feeling everytime you think about it. I couldn't think straight, I couldn't believe that I made him suffer like that. He was helpless, just like Lara. Like Lara...

I turned around and looked at her.

_Oh god... Her eyes... Her eyes, they were full of fear, pain and disgust. Was she afraid of me? Did she think of me as a murderer like I thought of myself? Did he do something to her? Was I too late? I'm so sorry Lara... I wish I had never let him take you._

She covered her face and started crying. I couldn't watch her like this. I picked up her tank top and walked over to her. I handed it to her. She didn't pull it on, but instead she held onto it and pressed her body against mine. I was surprised by this at first, but then realized she needed someone to comfort her.

"He tried- he tried to..." She sobbed.

I wrapped my arms around her and let her cry on my shoulder. Her body felt warm, it was a soothing feeling and made me focus on something else for a moment.

"It's okay, I'm here Lara.. I'm here now. He's gone... He won't hurt you anymore." I comforted her.

We stood like this for a minute and then decided to get going.

I gave the body one last look and followed Lara out of the shack. She pulled the white tank top out of the grey one and put it on. She then pulled the grey one over the white one again and covered her wound with her left hand. We walked down the path leading to our camp.

Lara was being distant. She hadn't said a word to me since we left the shack. I don't blame her though, she deserves some alone time. Even if she did talk to me, I wouldn't know what to say. I didn't really know a lot about Lara. I didn't know what to say when she needed comfort, when she needed a laugh to cheer up or when she just needed someone to talk to.

I met her via Sam, who was a closer friend than Lara was. I remember the first time I met Lara, my eyes almost dropped out of my sockets. I couldn't keep my eyes of her and I think she noticed that.

I never really talked to her a lot until we boarded the Endurance. I wish I could talk to her more, but since this wasn't exactly the right place to learn more about each other, I didn't bother asking her anything.

We arrived at our camp and sat down by the campfire.

_It's getting late again. Daytime seems to fly by on this island. Where the hell are we anyway?_

Lara was staring into the fire that was starting to get low. When the fire died she took a nap. I wanted to sleep too, but I decided against it to prevent something like before happening again. I couldn't let it happen again.

~ Flashback: Summer 2008 ~

The canteen was crowded. Groups of people scattered around the place. Almost all the tables were taken, except for one in the far left corner.

I was walking towards the free table with my lunch when Sam called my name.

"Come sit with us!" She smiled.

I nodded and walked over to her table. I sat down and gazed at the girl sitting in front of me.

She was absolutely stunning. But not just the normal kind of stunning. She was the one-of-a-kind kind of stunning; beautiful brown hair, gorgeous brown eyes and full lips.

"Oh right.. Alex, this is Lara. Lara this is Alex." Sam introduced us to each other.

"Hey Lara, nice to meet you." I smiled and stood up to shake her hand.

"Hey Alex." She smiled back shaking my hand.

"Where you from, Alex?" Lara asked me.

"I'm from Florida. Miami to be exact." I answered.

"Cool, always wanted to go there." She smiled.

Her smile was so beautiful. I felt fuzzy inside everytime she showed it, even if it was just slightly.

"I heard the weather is nice there." She added.

"Lara, everything is considered nice compared to the shitty weather here in England." Sam said dryly.

"It isn't that bad, Sam." Lara rolled her eyes.

"If you don't believe me, ask the new guy." Sam said.

"It's pretty bad." I chuckled.

"See?" Sam said.

"It has its ups and downs." Lara said.

"So, why England?" Lara asked me.

"My parents wanted to move here. They think my chances of finding a job that suits me is higher here." I responded.

"What are you planning to study?" Lara asked.

"Electronic engineering." I told her.

"Sounds… complicated." Sam snarked.

"It kinda is." I confirmed.

"So what do you like to do in your spare time Lara?" I asked her.

"Err… Let's see… I love to go hiking and I enjoy rock climbing too. I also do archery and read a lot."

"Sounds really cool, much more interesting than my hobbies." I chuckled.

"What are yours?" She asked.

"Well, I'm into technology so I invent my own gadgets and tools. I also love to play video games and err… That's about it." I grinned awkwardly.

"Cool!" She smiled kindly.

"I'll leave you two alone for a second, I'll be right back!" Sam said out of the blue.

When Sam left we talked like this for the rest of the lunch break.

_Seems like I've just met the girl of my dreams._

~ End of Flashback ~

"Alex, wake up."

"Huh? Oh shit… did I fall asleep?" I mumbled.

Lara didn't respond, stood up and walked into the forest, back to where she killed the deer.

_What's up with her, why the hurry?_

I stood up and followed her into the forest.

"Hey Lara.." I started trying to take her hand.

"Don't… Don't touch me." She turned around towards me and backed away.

"Lara.. What's up with you?" I asked confused.

She didn't say anything, turned back and continued walking.

_What's the matter with her? She's acting really strange._

We walked in silence for a while until I tried again.

"Lara, if there's anything you want to say to me, just say it." I told her.

"You killed him..." She said quietly.

"What?" I asked, unsure what she just said.

"You killed that man... You let him suffer a painful and slow death. How could you do that?" Lara flipped.

"To save you, Lara. How's that a bad thing?" I said slightly offended.

"You could've knocked him out or, or… I don't know, something that didn't involve stabbing a knife through his chest."

"You think I enjoyed killing that man? It was horrifying, but I did it to save you Lara. I did it, because I didn't want…" I paused.

"Didn't want what?" She asked.

"I- I didn't want you to get hurt. I wanted you to feel safe. That's all I wanted." I told her.

She was quiet for a second. "We should get going." She muttered and continued walking.

_I know what happened scarred her, but the way she acted towards me was heart-wrenching. I killed him so she wouldn't have to look over her shoulder every minute. I did it all for her._

The path we were walking on lead up a hill. When we got to the top we saw a statue of something that looked Japanese.

"No way…" Lara gasped and jogged towards the statue to get a close look.

"What is it?" I asked walking towards her.

"It's… It's Himiko." She told me quietly.

"Wait… Himiko… The sun queen?" I asked gobsmacked.

"We're on Yamatai."

~ End of chapter ~


	5. Chapter 5 - Oruzhie

Chapter 5 - Oruzhie

**Lara's POV**

"We're really here. We're on Yamatai." I said still astounded.

"No fucking way." Alex muttered out of disbelieve.

"We have to find the others and tell them." I told him.

"Maybe we can spot them from up here." He suggested.

I agreed and began observing my surroundings. Suddenly we heard a gunshot. I was startled by it and looked towards the sound.

"It came from over there." I pointed towards the sound coming from the forest.

"Let's go."

We reached a camp in the middle of the forest from where we heard the gunshot. I crouched down behind a low stone barrier and placed my hands against it. My heart rate skyrocketed when I heard another gunshot. I put my hands on top of the barrier and steadily peeked over it. I scanned the area and spotted two men each armed with a knife and one man armed with a handgun. There were three blindfolded men lined up on their knees facing away from the man with the gun. Two of them were from the Endurance.

"Why are they doing this?" I whispered hiding behind the barrier again.

"I don't know, but we need to help them." Alex responded.

"Can you hit the guy with the gun from here?" He asked looking me in the eyes.

"You're a better shot with the bow." He added.

"I can't do it, Alex... I can't kill. I'm sorry..." I answered breaking eye-contact.

"I understand. It's okay, I'll go." He told me and peeked around the corner of the barrier.

He took a deep breath and left the cover.

"Alex, wait. Take this with you." I said handing him an arrow from my quiver.

"Thanks." He took the arrow and crouch walked towards the gunman.

_Please be careful, Alex._

I equipped my bow and drew an arrow from the quiver just in case he got in trouble.

He approached the gunman from the back and stabbed him in the neck with the arrow.

_Oh god..._

I looked away and swallowed. I could hear him gargle in his own blood. The sound was unbearable, even from ten meters away.

Alex doesn't seem to mind that he just did that. Is he becoming desensitized to killing? If he goes on like this, what would be the difference between him and them? Damn it Lara, stop thinking like this. He does it to protect us. You gave him the arrow, he used it. These are bad men, Lara. If we don't kill them, they will kill us.

The men armed with knives spotted Alex and yelled things in Russian.

I placed the arrow in place and raised the bow.

They unsheathed their knives and started running towards Alex.

_Shit! Okay Lara, you can do this._

I looked through the sights and aimed. I had the closest one to Alex in my sights. I pulled back the string and inhaled sharply. It was difficult to steady my aim, because my heart rate was incredibly fast.

_Come on Lara... Focus._

I held my breath. My heart rate slowed down and I waited for the short pause between two heartbeats. Now. I released the string and fired the arrow.

It hit his chest and he dropped to the ground. I drew another arrow and fired it at the other one as quickly as possible, but I missed him by a hair. He swerved and readied his knife.

"Alex, watch out!" I shouted.

The man swung his knife, but Alex was fast enough to dodge and counter him with his arrow. Alex stabbed the arrow through his eye, causing it to explode. Alex cringed as the blood splattered onto his face. The arrow went through his brain, causing him to collapse onto the ground.

I couldn't believe I just killed someone. What was even harder to believe was how easy it was. I almost did it without hesitation. The thoughts scared me so much.

_You did it to save Alex. He did the same for you, so you returned the favour. Nothing wrong about that, right? Oh god... What if that man had a family? Maybe he had a kid or..._

"Lara, it's clear!" Alex yelled snapping me out of my thoughts.

I threw my bow over my shoulder and walked over to Alex. He wiped the blood off his face, walked towards me and hugged me tightly.

"You okay?" He asked me.

I nodded and pulled him closer.

"I'm sorry you had to do that, Lara."

"It's okay. You're alive, that's all that counts." I told him.

I could feel my eyes water and I started sniffing.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" He asked, but I ignored his question.

"I'm so sorry, Alex..."

"What for?"

"For being mad at you before." I answered and a tear rolled down my cheek.

"It's okay, Lara. You had all the right to be mad at me." He told me and caressed my hair.

"I didn't. You killed him to protect me."

"I did and I'm glad you aren't angry with me anymore." He smiled and wiped away the tear from my cheek.

I smiled back and we released each other.

"Now I've saved you, are we even?" I joked.

"We're square." He chuckled.

We walked over to the hostages and untied them.

The hostage that wasn't from the Endurance was Russian. He ran away as soon as we untied him.

"You're welcome!" Alex yelled after him. "Douche…" He added quietly.

"Thanks for saving us! You were just in time." The brown haired guy said.

"Thank you! You really saved my ass back there." The blonde guy said.

"Do you know if anyone else from the Endurance made it to this island?" I asked them.

"No, I'm sorry. But the chances are really low."

"Damn it..." Alex blurted and walked over to the gunman's corpse. He took his gun and searched the body for ammunition. He found one spare ammo clip.

I hope they're alright. Roth must be worried sick about me. I must find them.

Alex ejected the magazine from the gun and counted the bullets inside the clip. "Just my luck." He muttered and loaded the magazine back into the magazine well. He shoved the spare clip into his back pocket.

"Where are you guys heading?" I asked them.

"Back to the beach, hoping to find an escape. You want to come with?"

"No it's fine. We have to find the others first. We can't leave without them." I told him.

"Then we'll help finding them. That's the least we could do in return."

"Thank you." I smiled.

"By the way, I'm Rick and my friend here is George." He told me and held out his hand.

Rick had brown hair and blue eyes. He looked thirty-something and taller than me. He wore the blue Endurance uniform and had a yellow watch on his left wrist.

George had blonde hair and green eyes. He was twenty-something and was about the same length as Alex. He wore the same as Rick.

"I'm Lara, Lara Croft." I responded and shook his hand.

"I know who you are. In fact, the whole crew knows you." He chuckled.

"Or, what's left of it..." He added with a more serious expression on his face.

"Anyway, we're happy to help you and are at your disposal, miss Croft." He smiled politely.

I smiled back and we all left the camp.

~ A couple hours later ~

"I hope they're still alive." George said out of the blue.

"They are, trust me." I responded.

"How do you know for sure, miss Croft? We've been looking for a quite some time already and we've still found nothing." He replied.

"I just know."

"Well that's helpful." He remarked sarcastically.

I ignored what he said and focused my mind on other things.

We were walking on a narrow path along the cliffside, looking for survivors. The cliff was really high, causing George to feel nauseous. Rick told him that he shouldn't look down, but that barely helped him. I was in my own world of thoughts, locking everything else out.

Still no trace of the others. Did they even make it? Are we looking for people that may not be alive anymore? It's been almost three days since we got stranded and still no sign of Roth or Sam...

"Hey, are you okay?" Alex asked me.

"What? Oh... Yeah, I'm fine." I replied, trying to take in what was happening around me and took a deep breath.

"Are you feeling alright? You look tired." He told me.

"I'm good." I replied bluntly.

He nodded and focused on what was ahead.

"Hey, what's that?" Alex said suddenly, pointing towards a yellow and black bag on the ground near a pool of water.

"That's Sam's bag!" I exclaimed and ran towards it.

I searched the various pockets of the bag, but found nothing that told us where she was heading. I did find a walkie-talkie and her camera.

I put the camera down on the ground and held the walkie-talkie close to my ear.

I pressed and held the talk-button and said: "Can anyone hear me? I'm Lara Croft from the Endurance, please respond!"

"Damn it..." I mumbled and released the button.

I attached the walkie-talkie to the back of my cargo pants and picked up the camera. I flipped the screen open and pressed the power button.

It was still functional; It turned on showing the Nikon logo. I searched through the gallery and found a recently taken picture. It was Sam who was pointing towards a path leading into the forest. She was standing on the exact place where she left her bag.

"What did you find?" Alex asked me.

"I found out where Sam went." I replied, pointing towards the path into the forest.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

I was so relieved that they were still alive and that they made it to Yamatai. Now we only have to find them.

I followed Alex, who was just as determined to find them as I was. The others, not so much.

The sun was setting. We were walking into an abandoned Japanese village. Most structures and buildings were decayed. Only a few in the distance were still intact.

"It will be dark soon." Rick pointed out.

"We should find somewhere to lay low for a while." George suggested.

"Not until we've found them." I told George.

"Miss Croft, with all due respect, but we've been looking for them the entire day. We should rest." He replied.

I stopped walking and George turned around facing me.

"I never asked you to come with us, if you want to leave, be my guest." I said slightly agitated.

"I'm sorry miss, I just…"

A bullet cut him off and went clean through his head. His lifeless body fell onto the ground and his blood engulfed my face as I froze, completely in shock. I looked down at the body. Half his face was missing and blood was flowing out of the gaping hole in his head, forming a velvet colored pool on the cobblestone path.

I could hear faded voices shout:

"Sniper, get down!"

"Where did it come from?"

"100 metres North East!"

"Croft, get the fuck down!"

I got pulled onto the ground by Rick and he dragged me into cover.

"Keep your head down, okay?" Rick demanded.

I stared in front of me and nodded slightly.

"Good girl." He panted and peeked around the corner of the low wall we were hiding behind.

A bullet whizzed past him and took a part of the wall away. He flinched and kept his head down.

"Alex, take point! We're gonna flank this asshole." He yelled.

"Err… Can't we just sit this one out? Like, how many bullets could he possibly have?" Alex chuckled nervously.

Another bullet whizzed through the air and chipped away a part of the wall Alex was hiding behind. Alex leaned back against the wall to make him a smaller target.

"Probably enough to take down a building. Now think of something, we're sitting ducks here!" Rick yelled.

Alex took off his glasses and moved it around. He tried to get a visual of where the sniper was positioned, using the reflection in his glasses.

I slowly came back to my senses and realized we we're in a tight situation.

Alex spotted the sun reflecting in the scope of the sniper and peeked over his shoulder.

"Got him! Third building from the left, top floor." He informed us.

"Okay, I'll take point, cover me." Rick said.

Alex turned off the safety, cocked his gun and pulled back the hammer.

"Ready when you are." He told Rick.

"Cover fire!" Rick yelled and ran on the right flank.

Alex popped up from his cover and fired his gun at the sniper. When he heard the click, indicating his gun was empty, he duck back down behind the low wall. He ejected the magazine, replaced the empty clip with a full one and reloaded the gun. I was surprised that Alex knew his way around a gun. He didn't seem like the type that knows how to use a weapon.

I carefully peeked over the wall and saw the sniper backing away from the window he was positioned.

"He's moving!" I yelled.

Alex stood up and vaulted over the wall. He sprinted along the left flank. I followed and stuck close to him.

We reached the building the sniper was stationed in. We went around the back and caught up with Rick. We stacked up at the backdoor. I drew an arrow from my quiver and readied my bow.

"Breach it." Rick told Alex.

Alex positioned himself in front of the door and kicked it open. The sniper shot Alex in his shoulder the moment the door was off its hinges, causing him to fall onto the ground. I shot the sniper in the head quickly after.

"Alex! Are you okay?" I crouched down beside him and put my bow aside.

"It's nothing." He wheezed and started coughing.

Rick walked over to the sniper's body and took his guns.

"Mosin-Nagant. Fucking Ruskies..." He muttered while inspecting the rifle. He carried the rifle over his shoulder and checked the sniper's pistol. It was the same pistol Alex got. According to Rick it was a M1911. Rick took a closer look at the body and his eyes widened.

"Son of a bitch! It was the Russian from the camp!" Rick exclaimed furiously.

"You mean the hostage that ran away?" I asked.

"Yep, that's him." He sighed and gave the body a kick.

"Motherfucker..." Alex coughed.

"Alex's wound is bleeding bad. He needs something to cover it up with." I told Rick.

Rick crouched down beside the sniper and ripped his sleeve off and handed it to me. I wrapped the sleeve around his arm, covering the wound. The 'bandage' colored red after I applied it.

"So Alex, where did you learn to use a handgun?" I asked him.

He chuckled and began: "I used to go to a shooting range with a friend of mine. He taught me everything I needed to know about a gun."

"Sounds fun."

I tightened the bandage causing him to groan.

"It was." He grinned and rubbed his arm.

"This should do for now." I told Alex.

"Thanks Lara." He smiled and got up on his feet.

Rick pulled the arrow out of the sniper's head and handed it to me.

"Keep it." I said disgusted.

"We should stay the night here. Maybe go back and bury George." Rick suggested, fumbling with the bloodied arrow.

"Sure thing." Alex agreed.

I nodded and we went inside.

~ End of chapter ~


	6. Chapter 6 - The Sound of Strings

Chapter 6 - The Sound of Strings

**Alex's POV**

"Okay, just bite down on your shirt. This will only take a second."

"Okay..." I muttered, putting the collar of my shirt in my mouth.

Lara used the tip of her arrow to dig out the bullet in my shoulder.

I let out a sharp groan when I felt the pointy tip in between my flesh and the bullet.

"Take a deep breath, Alex. This is gonna sting." She told me.

I did as she says and squeezed my eyes shut.

"Ah! Fuck!" I yelled, the moment she removed the bullet from my shoulder.

"Jesus Christ, you weren't kidding, this fucking burns!"

"Hold still." Lara told me, trying to bandage the wound again. This time with a legit piece of bandage she found inside the building left of the one we were in right now.

"Where did a girl like you learn to do this?" I chuckled, while she bandaged my shoulder.

"I didn't." She replied bluntly.

"Wait what?" I asked confused.

"I improvised." She smiled as she tightened the bandage, causing me to groan.

"You're good to go." She told me.

We stood up and walked towards the campfire.

We were sitting around a campfire Rick made. It was raining again, not as heavy as last time, but it was still rain and I hated it. Fortunately, we set up a camp, or how I like to call it: our 'base of operations', inside the building the sniper was stationed. This covered us from the rain, which is a must.

It was quiet. The only thing I could hear was the rain clattering on the roof of the building. Everybody seemed shaken up by what happened before. Especially Lara, she had been really quiet since we buried George.

"You know, I'm starting to like this camp." I said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, it's nice." Rick replied.

"Hey, how about you tell us about yourself, Rick."

"Well, what's there to say? I'm Richard Cooper. I'm 25 years old and I've been working for Roth since my 18th."

"25 years old? I thought you were like 30." I told him.

"You're not the first to think that." He chuckled.

And there it was again, complete silence. I decided not to bother chatting with Rick anymore and laid down onto the floor. Sleeping on a hard surface was something I've always been good at, so I drifted away rather quickly.

Birds were chirping, the sun was shining and best of all, it stopped raining. I woke up a little late today. Lara had to wake me up, who was lovely to wake up to as always.

Lara went outside to hunt, so we could fill our hungry stomachs. I didn't know what to do, so I went to check on Rick. He was cleaning his new toy. It was the gun I always used when I played the World War 2 themed Call of Duty games. Those were the days.

"You know how to use that thing?" I asked him.

He looked up and said: "You're not the only one who went to shooting ranges."

"I never fired a rifle before, only handguns. Would you mind if…" I asked, but got cut off.

"We're not exactly tripping over ammunition at the moment, maybe when we get off this god damn island, I'll take you to a real shooting range." He proposed.

"I'll hold you on that one." I smiled.

Rick stood up and walked away from the camp.

"Hey, where are you going?" I yelled after him.

"Just stay on the lookout, Alex." He yelled back.

I did as he said, but soon my curiosity got the better of me. I stood up and walked in the direction Rick went.

I saw him crouched down with something in his hands.

"Watcha doin'?" I asked.

"Didn't I tell you to stay put?"

"Well, I was kinda bored so…"

He sighed and said: "Now you're here anyway, help me out will ya?"

"Grab the other end of this string rope." He told me, already assumed I would help out.

I nodded and took the string in my hands.

"Now tighten it and stab the tent peg into the ground near that tree."

I did as he said and asked: "That all?"

"Yep." He confirmed.

He gave the string rope a soft pull, causing cans to ring up in the tree above us.

"Clever." I said.

"Where's Lara?" He asked.

"Out hunting." I replied.

"You shouldn't let her wander off like that."

"She can handle herself, Rick."

"I'm going after her. Stay here on the lookout, okay?"

"Yes sir…" I rolled my eyes.

**Lara's POV**

"Really? Why won't you just die…" I said irritated, watching the deer, with an arrow stuck in its body, making a run for it.

"Sure, I'll wait for the next one!" I yelled.

I sighed and sat down onto the soft moist grass with my bow in my left hand. I pulled a few blades of grass out of the ground and threw them aside.

"Hey."

I stood up, turned around and aimed my bow at Rick, all in a split-second.

"Don't sneak up on me like that." I sighed deeply, lowering my bow.

"Nice reflex." He snorted.

"So, what are you doing here?" I questioned.

"I wanted to know if you were safe and all."

"Right."

"Err… How's hunting working out for you?"

"Not very well, I could use a hand."

"Sure." He said, equipping his rifle.

He pulled back the bolt, inserted a clip and pushed the bolt back in place, loading a round into the breech.

"Let's find us some deer." He said and walked further into the forest.

"There's one." I pointed out.

"I see him." Rick said and aimed his rifle.

He took a sharp breath and held it. He steadily squeezed the trigger, firing the rifle. The gunshot echoed through the forest, causing birds to fly away. The deer dropped to the ground.

"Cool!" I said awed.

"You wanna try?" He said, offering me his rifle.

"Yeah." I smiled and took the rifle. I was surprised he let me use a rifle like this one.

"Wow, it's heavy." I chortled.

"Okay, now try to shoot a stationary target, like that bird on the branch."

"Okay…" I aimed the rifle at the bird and tried to pull the trigger, but it didn't fire.

"You err… forgot to load a fresh round into the rifle." He told me.

"Oh right…" I chuckled, slightly embarrassed.

I pulled back the bolt and then pushed it back in place again, loading in a fresh round. I aimed at the bird and fired the gun. It missed the bird, causing it to fly away.

"Damn it…" I sighed.

"Let me help you." He stood behind me and steadied my arms with his.

"Pull the bolt." He said, while gesturing the same.

I loaded a round into the rifle and aimed at another bird that just landed on a branch.

"Now take a deep breath and hold it."

I did as he said and focused on the target. He helped adjusting and steadied my aim.

"Now don't jerk the trigger. Steadily squeeze it. You don't want to get off target when you pull the trigger."

I squeezed the trigger with care, firing the rifle. The bird exploded into a red cloud.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed happily and gave Rick a high-five.

"Nice shot, Lara! You're a natural." He complimented.

"Well, I would've missed without your help." I said humble.

"You did most of it, I just adjusted your aim a little." He smiled.

"Again?" He asked.

"This was fun and all, but we should head back. Alex must be worried." I told him.

We took the deer with us and headed back to the camp.

"Finally, you're back. You got me a lil worried." Alex said and gave me a quick hug.

"Nice catch." He said, pointing towards the deer.

"It's not mine, Rick took that deer out with his rifle." I told Alex.

Alex nodded and took the deer to the campfire.

"Lara, pass me one of your arrows." Alex said.

I took an arrow from my quiver and handed it to him.

"Thanks." And he began slicing the deer open.

The sound gave me the chills so I walked away towards Rick.

"Hey, Rick." I smiled.

"Hey, Lara." He smiled back.

"Hunting was really fun, we should do it again sometime." I suggested.

"Yeah sure." He agreed.

"Can I ask you something, Lara?"

"Sure, ask away."

"Do you trust Alex?"

"Yes, of course I do. Why?" I said confused.

"I don't know, I just... I don't trust people quickly." He replied.

"Do you trust me?" I asked him.

"I..."

"Lunch is ready!" Alex yelled, cutting him off.

We went over to the campfire and took a pointy stick with a chunk of meat on it. We sat there and talked a little.

"I remember that one time, he got his hand stuck in Roth's machinery. I told him that we had to amputate it. He almost bursted into tears when I came back with a fire axe. Turned out, Roth could easily remove the parts that trapped his hand. He didn't say a word to me the next day." Rick chuckled.

I laughed and smiled at Rick.

"Oh man, I miss the bastard..." He sighed.

"He was a good guy." Alex smiled weakly.

"Yeah.." Rick sighed.

"Hey Rick, I just want to tell you that I'm really grateful that you joined our search." I thanked.

"Yeah, me too." Alex smiled.

"I am too, you two are great people." He told us with a warm smile.

We sat there talking almost the entire day. Rick was great, he was funny and good at telling stories. I didn't expect to laugh this much after all this that happened so far.

The sun went down and we decided to sleep. It was a quiet night; no rain, no crickets, just pure silence. Suddenly Rick stood up fast and took his rifle from the table.

"Rick? What's up?" I asked sleepy.

"We've got company." He replied, loading a fresh clip into his rifle, which he took from the same table.

"Wake up Alex and stay with him. Get your bow and arrows." He ordered.

I nodded and crawled towards Alex.

"Alex, wake up." I shook his arm.

"Lara? What is it?" He asked, rubbing his eyes.

"Rick says there are people close by."

"Hostile?"

"I don't know, get your gun, we need to stick together."

He nodded and took his gun from the table. Rick took position near a window with his rifle. Alex stood near the door with his gun and I stood behind him with my bow and arrow.

There was pure silence again. The only thing I could hear was my heartbeat and Alex's breathing.

Suddenly I heard a gunshot, which sounded like Rick's. Screaming followed in the distance.

"Cyka!" I heard someone yell in Russian.

Another shot was fired, again followed by screaming and profanity.

"Sniper! Up in the building!" I heard in the distance.

They started shooting at Rick and I told Alex that we should do something. He agreed and moved towards them, leaving the building.

I followed his steps closely and readied my bow.

**Alex's POV**

I changed my firing position to Center Axis Relock and shot one of the intruders in his leg, from about 5 meters away. I quickly took advantage of his temporarily immobility and put his arm in an arm-lock. I aimed my gun at the dude standing in front of me, who was unsure who to shoot. I shot him clean through his skull, before he could react and gave the arm-locked man a knee to his head, causing him to walk backwards to regain his balance. I shot him twice in the chest and once in the head, still from the C.A.R. position. I exhaled sharply and started coughing.

I quickly scanned my surroundings and spotted a body with an arrow in his neck.

"Nice shot, Lara." I said exhausted.

"Alex. Where the heck did you learn that?" She exclaimed awed.

"I didn't." I grinned.

"Let me guess, you improvised." She rolled her eyes.

"Maybe." I smirked.

"But seriously, where did you learn that?" She asked again.

"I had a friend back in the States, who taught me a lot of his martial arts stuff. I really enjoyed his seminar and even decided to pay him for it. He was happy to help for free, but I insisted and eventually ended up buying us lunch after each lesson."

"Never expected you to do something like that. That was crazy." Lara said, chuckling the last.

"It's clear, Rick!" I yelled.

When we were back at the camp, Lara told Rick how awesome I was, causing me to blush a little.

_Finally I impressed her. I never thought I could feel this happy on this crazy island. The way she reacted was too cute. Man… I'm so in love with her._

_Thanks Tommy, those lessons turned out to be VERY useful. Rest in peace, buddy._

~ End of chapter ~


	7. Chapter 7 - The Picture

Chapter 7 - The Picture

**Alex's POV**

The next morning, after we finished our breakfast, Lara suggested we should look for Sam and Roth. We took our time to prepare, before leaving. I had nothing much to prepare, since the only thing I got was a handgun and a couple mags, so I decided to check up on Rick. He was talking on a what looked like a military-grade walkie-talkie.

"Rick." I began.

"What, yeah… Yeah?" He turned around and put away his two-way radio.

"We should get going."

"Oh yeah, right." He replied and followed me back to Lara.

"Are you guys ready?" Lara asked us.

We both nodded and off we went.

"We are coming back here, right? I'm kinda liking this new camp." I said to the others.

"Me too." Lara agreed.

After a half an hour walk, we approached the entrance of a dark cavern.

"Should we go around?" I asked.

"No, we can go through, I got a light." Rick said and took a flashlight out of his backpack, again, military-grade.

He turned it on and lead the way. We saw nothing but darkness at first, until we reached a larger area inside the cavern. Suddenly a horrible smell hit us, making me cough. I covered my nose with my hand and slowly walked after Rick.

My skin crawled when Rick's light revealed countless corpses lying around the place. It looked like this cavern was used as a dump for bodies.

"What is this place?" Lara asked with a shaky voice.

She was scared, so was I. This place gave me the creeps.

"I don't know. It looks like they dumped all these bodies here, because they were rotting, leaving a foul odor." Rick replied.

"Sure looks like it." I commented, still in disgust.

We went further in and the path narrowed. Fortunately, we saw light coming in from outside. We walked towards it and exited the cavern.

"I'm so not going in there again…" Lara stated shivering.

"You said it." I responded to her.

We were in the middle of another damn forest. This one looked almost identical to the one our camp was, except, it was flatter. There was a small hunting lodge in the distance. It looked abandoned, so we walked towards it.

"Hey Rick, who were you talking to earlier, on your radio?" I asked him curiously.

"I was trying to establish radio contact with the surviving crew of the Endurance." He replied.

"Any luck?" I said.

"Get down!" Lara whispered.

"What?" I whispered back.

She gestured with her hand that I should listen carefully. I focused my hearings on what was happening around me. I equipped my pistol and heard unfamiliar faded voices talking.

"Don't worry, the wolves got the Texan."

"Finally! That cowboy was a drag. 'Sonbitch', took out half our crew."

"Yeah, I hope they also ripped apart his little girl, bitch killed Andrew with her stupid knife."

"Take him out." Rick whispered.

I aimed my gun at the one furthest from Rick. Rick swiftly, but steadily moved up to the one closest to him. He grabbed him and performed a rear naked choke. The man tried to fight back, but only managed to hit the top of Rick's head once, before falling asleep.

"What the…" The other guy yelled, before I shot him clean through the head.

Rick held onto the man's chin tightly and the backside of his head. He then violently snapped the dude's neck to make sure he wouldn't wake up anymore and searched the body.

"Jesus, Rick!" Lara whispered.

"No risks." He replied bluntly.

I searched the one I killed, but found nothing worth taking. Rick threw me a magazine and I caught it. I checked if it was full and shoved it into my back pocket.

I looked around me for Lara and found her sitting on a wooden patio chair, on the porch of the hunting lodge.

"You look comfortable." I smiled as I walked towards her, observing the environment as I went.

She patted on her legs, gesturing me to sit on her lap. I did as she wanted and ended up in an awkward position.

"Shouldn't this be the other way around?" I chuckled uncomfortably.

"Yeah." She giggled.

I stood back up and switched positions with her. She sat down on my lap sideways with her legs facing to the left and her back facing to the right. She leaned in on my chest and closed her eyes.

This place was so serene; birds chirping, insects buzzing and small wildlife making their way through the tall grass.

Lara finally looked at peace for once. She looked like she could fall asleep any moment and so could I. I hadn't felt so relaxed in a long time. Could be the lack of coffee or that Lara was snoring quietly, because I was feeling really tired. I slowly drifted away into a dream.

~ Winter 2010 ~

"Lara! How was your holiday to Spain?" I cheered.

"Hey Alex! It was awesome! The weather was gorgeous and the hotel was beautiful." She grinned warmly.

Her cheeks were blushing, because of the cold. It had been snowing for two weeks straight and I loved it. Nothing better than sitting inside, listening to the Christmas playlist on Spotify and drinking some good old coffee.

"Where're you heading?" I asked her.

"Home, you wanna come over? Sam's prepared some hot chocolate." She offered.

"Err... Yeah sure. Sounds good." I smiled nervously and walked with her.

She really liked the snow. She was jumping around and playing with it. Occasionally she threw a snowball at me.

She looked really cute in her army green jacket with a pair of skinny jeans and her beige beanie on her head.

She walked backwards facing me and gazed at me with smile. I smiled back and we walked like this for a short moment until she broke eye-contact and started jumping around again.

When we got to her apartment, Sam placed two cups of hot chocolate on the kitchen counter with whipped cream to top it off. I took off my jacket and gave it to Lara. She hung it on the coats hanger and took off hers.

We took our hot chocolate and settled on the couch to watch some Netflix.

"How've you been Alex? I haven't seen you in months." Sam asked.

"Great, great. I finally got my study going."

"That's good to hear, I was worried that you wouldn't be let in."

"You know me, I never fail." I chuckled.

"You're right, you never fail to impress me with your stupidity." Sam mocked.

"Ha-ha, hilarious, Sam." I said, leaning forward towards her.

"Shut up Sam, Alex is twenty times smarter than you are." Lara commented jokingly.

"Quit holding his dick, bitch." Sam said with a terrible black woman accent.

"No offense, but you don't even know how your computer works, so you should keep your mouth shut." I told Sam.

"Scratch the 'holding his dick' comment, you probably can't find it anyway." Sam dissed.

Lara bursted out in laughter and apologized for laughing shortly after. I didn't think it was all that funny and Sam noticed that.

"Sorry Alex, I didn't mean it." Sam apologized.

"It's okay, it was a good comeback." I chuckled and took a sip of my hot chocolate.

"You got a little…" Lara wiped off and ate the whipped cream that got on my nose when I took a sip.

"Thanks." I smiled.

"You're welcome." She replied with a smile back.

"You two make a pretty cute couple." Sam said, unsure if she was kidding.

"Sam…You know that that will never be a thing." Lara told Sam.

_FUCK._

"Lara! That's so rude! You don't throw someone in the friendzone like that." Sam whispered indignantly.

I began to feel some sort of pain inside my chest. Talk about a broken heart. Lara clearly felt offended which got her agitated.

"What do you want me to say? 'Would you be so kind to step inside the friendzone, thank you?' Besides, I wasn't putting him in the friendzone, Sam." Lara defended herself.

"I dunno, just not like that." Sam replied ignorantly.

"Well, if you don't have a better way to say it, keep your mouth shut."

"I was helping you two, what is your problem?"

"What's my problem? My problem is that you always think that you're better with boys than I am."

"Which is true." Sam provoked.

"Just count the boyfriends I had and the ones you had." She added, which crossed the line for Lara.

"You are an absolute b-" Lara shouted, but got cut off mid-sentence by me.

"For god sake, shut the fuck up! Why do girls always have to argue over the dumbest things." I flipped.

The two looked at me in silence, shocked at my reaction. I finished my drink and stood up.

"Thanks for the hot cocoa." I said with a not so sincere tone.

I walked to the coats hanger and took my jacket.

"Where're you going?" Sam asked.

"Home. It was fun, bye." I replied abruptly and left the apartment.

~ Present time ~

I felt Lara's body moving around, causing me to wake up. I slowly blinked and opened my eyes. Lara was still sitting on my lap with her head on my chest.

"Wake up, sunshine." I said, shaking her arm softly.

She moaned softly, opened her eyes and let out a cute yawn.

"You mumble a lot in your sleep." She chuckled sleepy.

"Slept well?" I asked her with a smile.

"Uh huh." She confirmed yawning and stood up from my lap. She stretched out her body and sighed.

"What was it about?" She asked.

"What?" I said, not sure what she meant.

"Your dream." She yawned again.

I sighed, unsure if I should tell her. "You remember that one time, when it snowed heavily and I came over to your apartment?"

"Err... After I came back from Spain?" She asked.

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"Yes I remember." She replied.

"Well, that was what I dreamt about."

"About that... I'm-" She began.

I didn't want to think about that right now, it only brought back bad memories, so I cut her off, which wasn't exactly a nice move. I knew she must've felt bad for saying that back then, but I didn't want to bring up the subject again. Besides, I was too anxious to discuss our relationship with her.

"Where's Rick?" I asked.

"No... no idea." She sighed.

"Rick?" I called loudly.

"I'm inside!" He yelled.

Lara and I went inside. The room looked like a typical hunting lodge, complete with chimney and hunting rifles. Everything was made of wood and there were about half a dozen animal heads on the walls. There was a rhino head hung lower than the others, enabling me to touch it. The horn was still really sharp, despite the estimated age of the trophy.

Rick was sitting at the table in the corner of the room which was also made of wood. He was reading through a book.

"What are you reading?" Lara asked.

"An instruction manual on how to modify a rifle." He responded.

"Where did you find it?" I asked.

"In the bedroom." He replied.

I walked towards the bedroom to take a look around.

"There's nothing interesting in there, I searched it already." He told me.

I didn't care, I just wanted to look around and went inside. I searched the various drawers, but found nothing. I walked over to the bookshelf and took a book out of it. I flipped through the pages and suddenly a picture fell out. I crouched down to pick it up and took a close look.

"What the hell..." I muttered, not believing what I saw.

~ End of Chapter ~


	8. Chapter 8 - Dead End

Chapter 8 - Dead End

**Lara's POV**

Rick and I went out hunting early in the morning. We decided to let Alex sleep on, he looked really tired yesterday night. He just couldn't stop yawning and rubbing his eyes. Thinking about it now, reminds me of how tired I've been myself. Sleeping doesn't come easy on this damn island, especially with the psychopathic scavengers on this island. What do they want from us? We have nothing that they could possibly want from us. How did they get on this island anyway? So many questions still unanswered.

"Shit! Missed again." I hissed.

"Need help?" Rick offered.

"No. Well, actually… Yeah." I smiled sheepish.

He nodded and positioned behind me again. This time he got closer to me, causing my cheeks to heat up, similar to when you bump into your crush while walking through the hallways of the school. NOT that I have a crush on him. His body was warmer than mine, making me feel tingly inside. I couldn't concentrate like this and I lowered the rifle. He turned me around and looked into my eyes. I noticed just now that he had incredible eyes. Those deep blue ones, like huskies. Woof.

"You're so beautiful, Lara." He told me and took the rifle from my hands.

I couldn't help but blush. He dropped the rifle on the ground and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Rick...!" I protested slightly. I put both my hands on his chest, trying to push him away lightly.

"Lara?"

I looked around me and saw Alex standing there. I pushed Rick off of me, this time less lightly, and picked up the rifle from the ground.

"Hey! Alex. Slept well?" I said awkwardly.

"Yeah, I did. You guys… err… caught anything yet?" He asked us, scratching the back of his neck.

I couldn't read his eyes clearly, it looked like pain combined with a hint of anger.

"I'm kinda hungry." He added.

"Yes, it's err… over there." I pointed towards where the deer was, still trying to figure out what he was feeling. It seemed like his expression was changing constantly. Like he was trying his best to hide his emotions.

We went over to the deer and dragged it back to the camp. We cooked it and began eating. It was painfully quiet, not a word was exchanged.

When we finished eating, we left the camp and went into the forest again. Alex was convinced that we would find the others soon. I hope he was right.

_What was Alex feeling? Jealousy? When he saw me with Rick, it sure looked like it. His eyes were vague, like he didn't know what to feel._

"Lara, are you alright?" Alex asked me.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I tried to smile.

"That's good." He smiled back weakly.

_He asks that a lot lately, maybe he doesn't know what to say. I don't blame him though, I've no idea what to say either. At least he's keeping it light for us. For me._

**Alex's POV**

I could see Rick looking at me from the corner of his eye. He doesn't seem to like it when I talk with Lara. I hope this won't escalate, we can't have a conflict between us two. That will make us vulnerable.

"How's your arm, Alex?" Lara asked me.

"It's getting better. Only hurts when I touch it." I smiled slightly.

"That's good. Should we look for a disinfectant?"

"He's fine." Rick stated.

"Okay." Lara said quietly.

"How's yours? It's starting to look better." I said.

"Yeah it is healing pretty good, I hope it won't open up again." Lara replied.

"I hope so too, seeing you hurt like that was unbearable." I agreed smiling.

"Enough with the chatter, we must not be caught off guard here." Rick interrupted.

"What, you know this place?" I asked agitated.

"I know that this place can kill us if we aren't paying attention." He answered in a corrective manner.

"There's a difference between this place killing us and you getting us killed..." I muttered.

"Alex...!" Lara hissed indignantly.

"What was that?" Rick asked with an angry tone.

"If you want to lead the way, go the fuck ahead." He added, pointing forwards.

I didn't reply.

"That's what I thought." Rick mumbled and continued leading the way. We were lagging behind, allowing Lara to talk with me without Rick hearing it.

"Alex, what is going on with you?" Lara whispered.

"I don't know, I just don't trust this guy." I replied.

"You aren't jealous, are you?" She asked skeptical.

"What? No, of course not. Why would I be jealous?" I almost yelled.

I knew that I was lying. I was jealous, but I couldn't admit it.

"Then don't act like it." Lara replied and tried to catch up with Rick.

I hesitated about catching up too, but decided not to. I sighed slow and quietly and then continued walking at my own pace.

_What am I doing wrong? Why does she push me away, every time I try to get close? I wish I was different. I wish I was someone she would be interested in..._

It started raining, lightly at first, but soon got heavier.

"Should we shelter somewhere?" I suggested.

"No." Rick replied bluntly.

"I didn't ask you, asshole..." I reacted.

"Hey, easy! And no, we can't stop looking for them now, I have a feeling we're getting really close." Lara responded.

She sounded determined and confident, like she really knew we we're close. I believed her gut-feeling and continued at their pace. We were silent, the only sounds I heard were the rain and our steps in the thin layer of squishy mud.

"Lara." I started.

"Yeah?"

"Could we talk for a moment?"

"Yeah, su-" She replied, but got interrupted by Rick.

"What? Is there something I'm not allowed to hear?"

"No, it's just... It's personal." I replied, wondering if it were the right words to use.

"Psh..." He responded and left us alone for a moment.

"So... What is it, Alex?" Lara began.

"There's something about Rick... I didn't know when to tell you, because I was afraid of getting to conclusions too soon or that you wouldn't understand, since you like-"

"Alex, slow down, okay? I'm having a hard time following you."

"Sorry. Jus- just take a look at this." I said.

I took out the picture I found in the hunting lodge earlier and showed it to her.

"What am I supposed to see, Alex?" She asked confused.

"Take a closer look." I told her.

"Alex, I don't _see _anything." She clarified.

I took a look myself and noticed the picture was washed out and next to worthless.

"What the..."

I felt my body heat up.

"I swear it wasn't like this before… Fuck…" I began panicking.

"Alex, calm down. What was on the picture?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I doubted.

"I will. You wouldn't panic like this if it wasn't true." Lara reassured.

"Okay. It was Rick and the other guy, George. They were… it was…"

"Wait, Alex. Are you trying to tell me Rick is gay?" Lara chuckled.

"No what? No! That's not what I meant at all. They were standing in knee deep snow, while holding a deer by its antlers. And behind them, was the same exact hunting lodge as where we..."

"Where _I _fell asleep on your lap?" She chortled.

"Yea." I blushed.

"But it doesn't make sense, It's summer." Lara told me like I didn't know that.

"Exactly." I sighed. I scratched the side of my head and kicked away some leaves on the ground with my foot.

"So you are saying, that Rick isn't from the Endurance?" She said, with a hint of disbelief.

"Yeah. That's what it all comes down to basically." I confirmed.

"Where do you think he's from then?" She questioned.

"No clue." I replied, ditching the subject.

There was a short pause, allowing her to process what I just told her.

"Oh yeah, err... This isn't what I wanted to say in the first place, but..." I stopped and started thinking.

"What's up?"

I didn't respond right away, as I was looking for the right words.

_Do you like me? Nah.. Too straight-forward._

_I like you, Lara. Ugh... No._

_Maybe..._

"What do you really think of me?" I asked.

"What?" She said confused.

_Dammit. Should've gone with "do you like me"._

"What am I to you?" I clarified.

"A good friend, someone I can laugh with." She responded.

"That's... all?" I asked, slightly hurt.

"Well, what else is there to say? You're nice and smart." She replied.

"But what am I really to you? Just a friend or..." I paused.

"Or?" She questioned.

"Something more?" I finished.

"Alex..." She sighed and looked to the side.

"I really like you, Lara."

"Well, I like you too." She said, punctuating the word 'like'.

No, it's not like that, you don't get it." I said, while looking at the ground between us.

"You two done?" Rick interrupted. He was clearly being impatient, notable due to the fact he was tapping his feet and crossing his arms.

"Yeah." I replied with a surprisingly normal tone. For once, I let Rick be the dick he was.

Lara didn't respond right away. She stared at the ground in front of her.

"Lara?" Rick called her name.

"Yeah. We're good to go."

"Alright then. We need to pick up the pace, it's getting late." Rick told us, while jogging along the dirt path."

_Where are you leading us, Rick?_

We walked for half an hour in pure silence. Even Rick, who's always complaining about our travel speed, was quiet.

Suddenly Rick threw his arm back, telling us to stand still. My alertness raised and so did my heart rate. At first I could only hear my own breathing, but then I heard ruffling noises coming from the sides. I slowly reached for my gun and took it in my right hand. I looked to the left. Nothing. I looked to the right. Nothing either.

_We know you're there, asshole. Come on out._

My gaze fell on Lara, she was holding her bow and was observing her surroundings with care.

"Let's keep going. Whoever that was, he's gone now." Rick stated. "But don't let your guard down. He's still watching us, I'm sure of it." Rick added.

Once again, we were moving through the dense forests of Yamatai. Once again, my thoughts shifted towards Lara.

_If only I could read her mind. Is she thinking about me right now? Or is she thinking about Rick? Maybe neither, maybe she's still focusing on keeping her guard up, like I should._

I observed what was around me carefully and noticed what seemed like a dead end in front of us. It took Rick a moment before realizing the same.

"Shit. Dead end." He said agitated.

_Way ahead of you, buddy._

"What now?" Lara asked. She was looking around her, trying to find an alternate route.

Suddenly, Rick walked passed us, back to where we came from and raised his rifle. He fired a couple shots at a nearby tree to the right of him. We heard a loud groan, but it didn't sound like a grown man. In fact, it wasn't. It was a _fucking _kid. Rick walked towards the teenage boy, trying to crawl away from us. And aimed his weapon on him. The boy had brown hair and green eyes, he wore a greyish blue t-shirt with white sleeves and a pair of jeans.

"Rick! No!" I yelled. I dashed towards him and tried to take his rifle from him."

He pushed me off and shifted his aim at me.

"Fuck off, Alex." He muttered.

"It's a fucking kid, Rick!" I shouted.

"He was spying on us, he could be one of those scavengers. Look at him. He is death. Okay? Do you really think those scavengers would keep normal kids? This boy is gonna call for his buddies and get us killed, if we don't eliminate him _right _now."

"Rick, don't do this. We aren't murderers." Lara told him.

Rick focused on the boy and aimed his rifle again. The boy was bleeding bad, he got shot in his chest and gut.

"Who are you, where are your buddies and who do you work for?!" He yelled.

The boy didn't respond. Rick pulled back the bolt, loading in a round.

"Useless piece of shit…" Rick said and put his finger on the trigger.

"RICK! Don't sh-"

~ End of Chapter ~

Sorry for taking so long, guys. Next one will be up sooner.


	9. Chapter 9 - Dead End part 2

Chapter 9 - Dead End part 2

**Lara's POV**

_How could he do such a thing? What made him do this… The look in his eyes, not a hint of mercy._

Alex was devastated. He sat down and stared in front of him for hours. Rick left, he went back the other way after he and Alex fought, but I decided to stay with Alex. I was not gonna leave my only friend that I knew wasn't dead. I looked around for dry wood or branches. Due to the rain, it was hard to find them. It was getting colder, not only because the sun was down, but also because autumn has come. As I broke down several saplings for wood I heard something shuffling through the bushes behind me. I took my bow and readied the arrow. My heart was racing, rendering me unable to aim my bow steadily. Despite the cool rain I was sweating like hell. Whatever was here a second ago, isn't here anymore. I let my guard down and put my arrow back in my quiver and my bow across my sweating body. I put the branches and twigs with my arrows in my quiver. As I made my way towards a second set of saplings I heard the same sound again, but this time from the bushes to my right. I aimed my bow at the origin of the sound and held my breath.

_Come out, come out, wherever you are. _

Suddenly I heard something running behind me. I turned around and saw a wolf dashing towards me. I shot the arrow straight through its head. I forgot about the wolf behind me in the bushes and got bit in my right leg. I fell towards the ground onto my chest. Its teeth were ripping through my flesh as I took an arrow from my quiver. I turned my body around, causing its teeth to rip further through my leg, and stabbed the arrow into the wolf's left eye multiple times until it went limp and released its grip from my leg. I was sitting there panting, leaning on my hands behind me and observed the bite wound for a minute or so. The bite wound was bad, but the bleeding was mild; I acted faster than I thought. The wolf must've been weakened before it attacked me; the wound was not very deep. I tried to stand up, but my right leg would just collapse. I took my bow and used it to stabilise my body and stood up right. I slowly made my way back towards Alex to bring back what I had gathered.

I made my way back to the camp and sat down near Alex.

"Look what I found!" I said excited, trying to lighten up the mood.

He didn't respond, not even a nod. He was just staring in front of him, gazing at the boring wall that kept us from progressing. The wall was a man-made structure and was covered with naturally formed vegetation. I stood up and began setting up a campfire.

"Alex, where did you put the matchbox?" I asked him, but he didn't respond.

I took one of the branches that was left over and threw it at him softly. It startled him a little, causing him to look up at me.

"I put it in your bag." He replied.

"Hmph… So you _can_ talk." I muttered, rolling my eyes.

I took some bandage and the matchbox out of my U.S.M.C. bag that Roth provided me for this excursion and took a match out of it. I ignited the simple construction of branches, starting a fire. I blew gently into the fire and rubbed my hands. It was getting colder every second. While bandaging my leg I looked over to Alex. He was still doing the exact same thing; staring at that wall.

"Alex, staring at that wall won't get us over it." I mocked.

He was staring at it intensely and stood up.

"Maybe not over it... but it could get us through it." He responded and strolled towards the wall and touched it with his hands.

"We need something, something that can function as a lever." He told me hastily.

"Like a crowbar?" I responded, trying to come up with ideas.

"Yeah.. or an… an axe of some sort. Wait a second, Roth has an climbing axe, right?" He replied to me.

"Yes, but we don't know where he is."

"No we don't… but Rick does."

"Wow hey wait, that psychopath just killed a kid, I'm not coming near him again."

"Lara…"

"We could just circle around, right?"

"We don't know how far this structure stretches out. Besides, if we find Rick, he might lead us to Roth and his pickaxe."

"What if he doesn't know where Roth is?" I doubted.

"I don't know, but I've got a good feeling about this. Lara.. We _need _to do this, it's our only chance to find the others right now."

"All right all right..." I said slightly hesitant.

I finished bandaging my leg and tried to stand up.

"Jesus! What happened to your leg?" Alex said in shock and helped me stand up.

"Wolves." I replied nonchalantly.

"Damn, you okay?"

"Define okay." I joked.

"You're more badass than I thought, L.C."

"I'm flattered." I smiled.

We slowly backtracked our way back to the camp we were at earlier this morning. The trip was quiet, Alex was especially quiet. I guess he just wanted to focus on finding Rick. Suddenly, we heard the noise of cans rambling in the distance.

"You heard that? Those are Rick's traps! That could be him." Alex exclaimed and started running.

I followed him and tried to pick up the pace, but the bite wound didn't help. We eventually reached the handcrafted traps made by Rick. But we didn't find Rick as expected. We found…

"Jonah!" Alex yelled.

"God damn… Alex… Lara... I didn't think you guys made it. l- I'm so glad you two managed to get out alive." Jonah said relieved and hugged us both tightly.

"Same goes for you, Jonah." I told him, while he hugged us.

"That's enough Jonah, you're crushing my bones!" Alex chuckled uncomfortably.

Jonah took a small step back and scanned us both.

"Lara, your leg! What happened?" Jonah said.

"I got bit by wolves, y'know, the usual." I replied.

Jonah crouched down, took of his backpack and zipped it open. He took out a bottle of alcohol and handed it to me.

"Put this on the wound." He said and continued searching through his bag.

I took off the bandage, applied the alcohol, re-bandaged my leg and handed the bottle back to Jonah. He took the bottle of alcohol back and handed a bottle of water to Alex.

"Drink." Jonah said.

Right before he closed the bag I noticed something.

"Jonah, is that... " I began.

"I know it's not tea, but I figured you guys were thirsty." He replied.

"Not that, Jonah. I meant what was in the bag." I clarified.

He opened it back up and took out Roth's climbing axe.

"Where did you find it? Do you know where Roth is?" I asked Jonah worriedly.

"I wish I did. Last time I saw him we got separated; a large group of crazy men took him away. I managed to stay out of their sight, but they took Roth, Reyes and Sam. I should've helped them..." He replied, clearly devastated about what happened.

"it's not your fault, Jonah. You were outnumbered. By the way, what happened to Whitman?" I questioned.

"Dunno, bastard took the lifeboat and sailed off without us." He responded.

"But I think I have an idea where Roth could be. He told me if we ever got separated, he would head towards the Endurance." He added.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's find that damn boat!" Alex said optimistically.

"Hmpf… Ship." I said quietly.

"Ship, boat, it's all the same." Alex rolled his eyes.

We started heading back to the wall, this time with Jonah by our sides.

"Lara, you should drink something." Alex said and passed me the bottle of water he got from Jonah.

I opened the bottle and drank from it. The water was still cold and refreshing. I handed it back to Alex and he passed it along to Jonah. When we arrived at the wall, Alex took out Roth's ice axe from Jonah's backpack. He investigated the wall and noticed some inconsistencies. He took a few steps back and prepared the axe. He then swung the axe at it and broke off a piece of the wall. Spiders started crawling out of the hole made by Alex, causing him to back away from the wall. He then repeated the process until a gap, big enough to climb through, was revealed. Alex was panting as it took quite some time to break the wall to this extend. Whoever built this structure sure knew how to hide a secret entrance.

"This.. is.. a terrible secret entrance." Alex panted.

_I guess Alex doesn't agree._

"So… Who goes in first?" He asked with a goofy smile.

Nobody responded.

"Fine. I'll go first…" I said.

Jonah took a glow stick from his backpack and handed it to me. I snapped the glow stick and shook it around, lighting it up. I then climbed through and Alex followed. Jonah took off his backpack and threw it through the gap first, before he climbed through it himself. Once we were all inside we began making our way through the claustrophobic cave way. We barely fit inside it, we had to move through it sideways. The absolute worst part was that the cave way was filled to the brim with cobweb and the spiders that occupied them. I could feel the spiders crawling down by body and moving through my hair. I've never experienced so many shivers in a row.

"Oh fuck, this is crazy, maybe we should go back?" Alex panicked.

"Come on, we're almost there, don't give up now." I said, facing him.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck… Lara, don't just stand there, keep walking!" Jonah yelled.

"Keep your mouth closed or they'll climb inside." I teased him.

"Very funny, Lara." Jonah replied.

Suddenly my foot slipped, causing me to fall down to the ground.

"Lara!" Alex exclaimed and tried to reach towards me.

"Ah shit!" I yelled as I hit the ground.

Before I knew what was happening, I was sliding down some kind of slope, desperately trying to grasp something. All of a sudden I was free falling for what felt like five whole seconds, before I hit a pool of water and went under.

~ End of Chapter ~


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